


Making Amends

by Wolfling



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Episode Related, Gen, Missing Scene, episode 3.23 Insatiable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-22
Updated: 2014-03-22
Packaged: 2018-01-16 15:12:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1352029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfling/pseuds/Wolfling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"He lied, you know," Stiles said around his chattering teeth.</p><p>"Who lied?" she asked, rubbing his fingers to try and work some warmth back into them. If part of her was holding tighter to make up for her earlier reticence in touching him she didn't think it would do either of them any good to admit it out loud. Far better for them both she told herself to just concentrate on treating the symptoms of mild hypothermia that the oni's touch had left him with.</p><p>"The nogitsune. When it said... Scott could never hate you. That- That's not why I didn't tell him."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making Amends

**Author's Note:**

> So I just really wanted to deal with the fact that Stiles knows the big McCall family secret and that Melissa now knows he knows. Also to fix some of what the nogitsune damaged.

Melissa wrapped the blanket around Stiles tighter and held his ice cold hands between her own to help warm them back up. 

"He lied, you know," Stiles said around his chattering teeth.

"Who lied?" she asked, rubbing his fingers to try and work some warmth back into them. If part of her was holding tighter to make up for her earlier reticence in touching him she didn't think it would do either of them any good to admit it out loud. Far better for them both she told herself to just concentrate on treating the symptoms of mild hypothermia that the oni's touch had left him with.

"The nogitsune. When it said... Scott could never hate you. That- That's not why I didn't tell him."

Melissa stilled and stared at him. Stiles didn't look away, but gave a half grimace, half humourless smile. "Yeah, I remember everything," he said and she deliberately didn't let herself think about what that meant for this poor boy who was like a second son to her. 

It was pretty much the only thing that could make the other topic more palatable a choice to talk about. Scott was still downstairs talking to Kira and her mother so this was probably the closest to privacy they were going to get. "You've known all this time?"

"Yeah, what can I say -- eavesdropping is a long standing bad habit of mine. I perfected the art of listening in on phone calls by the time I was 8 because I needed to know about my mom's.... my mom's prognosis." He swallowed and looked down at their clasped hands and Melissa was suddenly reminded that Stiles probably still thought it was _his_ prognosis as well.

"Stiles," she said, squeezing his hands tighter, "you don't have what your mom had. It was all a trick."

Stiles froze, then his head shot back up to stare at her with disbelieving eyes. "You sure?"

"Your father and I took a closer look at the test results after he got back from seeing that specialist and they were definitely faked. I'm sure, honey."

She could practically see some of the tension leaving him as it sank in. "I- I had wondered if maybe... but I didn't want to..." His shoulders slumped, but he gave a half laugh. "With everything else that's been happening that probably shouldn't make me as relieved as it does."

"You're allowed to be relieved," Melissa told him. She let go of his hands to be able to pull him into the hug he looked like he desperately needed. "We all were when we found out."

She felt him go stiff and still at first before gradually relaxing and hugging her back. When he finally did, it was with a strength and desperation that had Melissa feeling guilty all over again for her earlier reluctance to touch him, as understandable as it may have been. 

She made a point of making sure she didn't let go until Stiles pulled back first. When he did, she could tell from his face even before he spoke that they were going to go back to talking about the secret. 

"What I don't get... when the nogitsune said all that to you I thought he was overplaying the taunts, but your face... You really think Scott would hate you if he knew?" There was genuine confusion in his voice and expression.

"I sent his father away." She hadn't even told Scott that much, that his father had left because she'd told him to, had stayed away because she refused to let him see Scott. Scott had just woken up the next morning with a headache to the news that his father was gone.

"You were protecting him," Stiles countered, then gave a small smirk at her look. "Yeah, I eavesdropped on the whole call. Like I said, bad habit."

"I didn't protect him well enough," Melissa countered, just accepting that Stiles did indeed know everything she told the Sheriff that night. "Or fast enough." She should have put her foot down about Rafael's drinking much, much sooner. Or, at the very least did a better job of keeping their adult concerns away from Scott. She had gone over that night so often in her mind. It might have been his father that had knocked him down the stairs, but if they hadn't been fighting right outside his bedroom door, Scott wouldn't have tried to stop them and been in the position for it to happen in the first place.

"No one can blame you for not being a mind reader. You moved to get the threat away from him as soon as you had proof it was a threat. You can't do any more than that," Stiles told her, sounding so much older and wiser than his years. His next words however were delivered in that tone of voice he'd been using for inappropriate humor since he was a child. "Luckily, Scott's always had a really hard head even before he became a werewolf."

It wasn't funny, it really, really wasn't, but Melissa felt her lips twitch with a barely repressed smile anyway. "Stiles," she chastised him, but it came out sounding more fond than disapproving.

"What? It's true! I can think of at least four separate occasions he got hit in the head when we were kids and he was always okay. And he's hard headed in the metaphorical sense too. I don't have to tell you how hard it is to make him change his mind once he's decided on something.

"He's also got the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met," Stiles continued more seriously. "You have to know he would forgive you if you'd actually done anything wrong -- which, for the record, in my completely unsolicited, slightly biased opinion you _didn't_."

"Why didn't you ever tell him?" Melissa wondered.

"I was going to," Stiles admitted. "That's partly why I brought over his homework the next day when you kept him home from school. Mostly I just wanted to make sure Scott really was okay, but I had planned on talking to him about what I'd overheard. I thought he had to remember something, that he was just maybe confused. Or even maybe that he was just pretending not to remember, that's probably what I would have done if it had been me. 

"But he really and truly didn't remember. And there really isn't a tactful way of saying, 'Hey, buddy, did you know your dad almost killed you last night by accidentally knocking you down the stairs? That's why your mom told him to get the fuck out.'" Stiles shrugged. "I mean, I would've found a way if Scott had really needed to hear it, but he really didn't.

"He was pissed at his dad for leaving, yeah, but he'd already been pissed at his dad for a while. People can leave without really leaving, y'know? So I think part of him was also, in a weird way, kinda relieved. But he was still sad so I figured I'd be a better friend by trying to cheer him up than by dropping awkward secrets on him." 

Stiles met and held Melissa's gaze, his whole demeanour as serious as she had ever seen him being. "I swear to you, I truly believe that if Scott does find out about all this now it wouldn't change a thing about how he feels about you or his dad. So yeah, everything the nogitsune said about that was a lie."

Melissa nodded, unable to argue with the sheer belief Stiles was projecting with every fibre of his being. "Okay," she said quietly. Stiles could arguably claim to know her son even better than she did and if he really thought this wouldn't change anything if Scott found out... She took a deep breath and felt that small kernel of doubt and fear that the nogitsune had preyed upon grow even smaller. 

Stiles seemed to relax at that and Melissa realized exactly how invested he'd been in getting her to believe. He was making amends, she realized, trying to fix the damage that the nogitsune had caused using his face and his memories.

"And uh," Stiles said, very much _not_ meeting her gaze now, "thanks. For caring about me even when I was possessed." 

Of course. Stiles had said he remembered everything, so he would remember her taking the tape off his mouth when she'd thought it had been him. Melissa suddenly didn't feel bad about being tricked into doing so. It hadn't been apparent at the time, but it seemed the comfort she had been trying to provide had filtered through to Stiles after all. That stopped all the shame she'd had at being fooled so easily in its tracks.

"I'm sorry the nogitsune used that to play you," Stiles continued and Melissa was suddenly angry. That thing had made Stiles feel like he had to apologize when he had been more of a victim of it than anyone, just as it made her second guess her instincts to reach out and try to help. She was determined that both of those were going to stop now.

"That was not your fault," she told Stiles fiercely, deliberately laying a hand against his cheek the same way she had when she thought the nogitsune had been Stiles. That got him to meet her eyes again, his own wide and startled, whether at her touch or her vehemence she wasn't sure. She watched him take a breath and knew he was going to argue with her and cut him off before he could speak. "No," she said in her best 'Mom' tone, "this is not something open for debate so don't even try, Stiles. I mean it."

She knew he'd recognize the tone, it had certainly been directed his and Scott's way enough times over the years of their friendship. It was a tiny bit of normality in a world that had gone completely insane and she hoped that her using it now would get across that she didn't hold him to blame and that she wasn't going to let this change how she felt about him or treated him.

It seemed to work because Stiles gave her a slightly watery grin and a soft, "Yes, ma’am."

"Good," Melissa said, patting his cheek once more before dropping her hand. He seemed to be over the worst of the oni aftereffects now so she stood up and pulled him up with her. "Come on," she said. "Once Scott is done with the kitsune conference downstairs, you two should go and check in with your father."

"Oh god, my dad," Stiles said, his entire being seeming to vibrate with urgent yearning, like it was just now occurring to him that he could see his father. " _Yes_. Please."

He headed for the stairs and she followed, stopping him in the doorway with a brief touch and said from the heart, "Whatever else is happening, it's good to have you back, Stiles."

**Author's Note:**

> [My tumblr](http://fwolfling.tumblr.com/) if you want to come and say hi.


End file.
